Seventies Potty Training!!

Move over UnPc Mumma and check out UnPc Great Grandmumma. I have just heard the most amazing tale of how my husband was potty trained...and it is truly amazing. The result was immediate - just following this procedure apparently has your child potty trained immediately...yes that's right you heard IMMEDIATELY! Ok so listen closely .... are you ready? Throw away your pirate copy of potty training in 3days ...that is just for potty training slow coaches!

SO here you are...

1. Wait until your child poops in his pants/diaper.

2. Collect said poop using whichever tools you have available.

3. Wipe said poop (now this is the really important bit) onto childs cheeks, nose and, chin.

4. Then look child straight in the eye and repeat these words "you are a dirty boy".

5. Ta Da ...... all done!

Disclaimer
Please do not try this at home here in the 21st century (I think this is even illegal with pets). The above was carried out by a certified old school unpc grandmumma, who was, lets face it, just a little bit batty.

For all my sleep deprived friends

....and those of us who remember all too well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXyk0a7pVJ8

The mess is still driving me crazy!!

So today at my mother's group we had a speaker called Valerie Childs who is the serene, calm, reassuring voice and face of New Way Life and Health Coaching here on Vancouver Island. She spoke a little about the type of reading I have been doing regarding "mindfulness" - in order to reduce anxiety and stress in our lives. She asked us to focus on a problem we might be encountering at the moment and then to come up with some answers that might solve our problems. We were to recognise only the things that we could control in our lives and not to try and change the things that we infact have no control over. I.e to look inward not outwards!

So with this under my bulging belt I decided to make a start on the ever growing state of my house! Mess has followed me my whole life - I have always lived like a bit of a pig I'm afraid. It started with my own small bedroom when I was growing up - followed me to college (the cleaning ladies would hijack my room once a month as I would refuse to let them in due to complete shame), she then came a knocking at the door of my first flat with my husband and so on and so on. The problem with this way of living is that it really does affect my day to day and is beginning to affect my wee boy. I am forever being hit on the head by something or other when I open a cupboard, or spend far too many hours looking for the scissors I just put down in my studio or tripping, stepping, bumping into things that just should not be there. My wee boy is lucky enough to have a playroom, but since Christmas I haven't tidied in there and his floor was covered with all manner of broken and bashed toys as he surfed over the top to reach a new one. SO today I thought enough is enough - WE are going to tidy and you are not going to live like the pig that is your dear mother. SO we tidied and organised together whistling while we worked - and ta daaaaaaa - we had one clean, organised playroom and the boy can learn to play in his room without breaking an arm. See how he enjoys that clean floor........









































So one room down and soooo much more to do.....

Christmas again!!

Well it has been ages since I visited this site. It has been a busy time and I can't believe how much seems to have developed since I was writing this blog. It is so nice to see my entries of last year about starting to print and making the fabric buckets etc. I have spent this year concentrating on developing the block printing and have developed an etsy store called Wall Flags to test out my products and see if there is a future in this handmade business for me. I absolutely love it and definitely feel that I have built a nice balance for me with being a mum primarily, but managing to develop something for myself too to try and protect my sanity. The boy is doing amazingly (apart from today!) - his vocabulary is amazing and he still lives life at full pelt! Sleep is generally soooo much better, the bedtime routine now is short and I still do not take that for granted. I have to laugh because I was re-reading my Christmas entries of last year and yes - Wooly Woman and I did get together for our "traditional" wreath making night. We had a great time making them (umm thanks to the margaritas) - but they did turn out a little strange this year. I am growing to like mine - but I poor Wooly Woman can't even look at hers at the mo and even felt rather embarrassed when the courier man came to deliver some parcels. It did look funkier in the Country Living magazine - I have to say - judge for yourself, but we don't think we will be revisiting this idea next year. Poor WOoly Woman - she gets to choose next years I think!!

The Bedtime Routine

So when the wee one was born we heard a lot about this infamous bedtime routine. We heard all about its importance, necessity and nodding supernanny approval. SO we begin....we begin with the bath..temperature just right...we add the stories..the laying in cot...the sweet smiles....the kisses..night, night..don't let the bedbugs bite and he cried, he screamed, he cried, he screamed sometimes he screamed sometimes he cried and sometimes he screamcried. It was awful, hair pulling, madness making ... it did not matter what he did..bedtimes were always horrible, horrible. So here we are 2 years later and bedtimes are still such a trial. I have no idea how the hell this happened, but the bedtime routine has gradually become longer and longer and longer and longer. It creeps up on you doesn't it. I remember watching programs and hearing tales of parents taking 2 hours plus to get their children to bed with it ending up with them laying next to the child until they fell asleep or rubbing their backs until they fell asleep blah, blah. I would shout "what?!?! the @#$%" rant and rave about parents today (ahh we remember what experts we were before the kids eh)..what happened to good old fashioned bath, teeth, story and bed!! I am still a strong believer of this, but man they suck you in...inch by inch, minute by minute and the sucky thing is .. it doesn't matter what we do..how bloody nice we are it still ends up with our sweet one crying, screaming, crying, screaming, screaming, crying and yep you guessed it the screamcry. Our routine to date is bath, teeth, story in mums bed, tent in mums bed, go to cot, must get in cot by oneself (this involves some complicated step stool move thing out of a diaper package) head on pillow, must build tent out of blanket over the cot, read story from chair by cot, small chat abt day, night night sleep tight, then needs a drink of water, not that glass the other glass...no I want that glass, tuck me in, the other blanket, say night, night again...scream...cry...scream..cry. So you can imagine my reaction last night when hubby came to sit down on the sofa, after our third time upstairs since bedtime, looking sheepish. "You aren't going to like this"..he says. Never a good start to a conversation as there are numerous other things he does that are a complete surprise to him that I am not such a fan of(playing bury me in the mud pit outside - don't get me started) .."so..." I push..."what am I not going to like?"....."I may have added a new element to our bedtime routine"....I say nothing...."It is called the cape thing"...now there is an edge to the silence..but through strained gritted teeth I enquire, "and what would the cape thing entail honey (everyone is honey when I'm pissed off)....you fasten the lighter sheet around your neck and run up and down the room saying "I can fly..I'm a superhero". We don't talk ..sometimes it is just best to use your inside voice!

Starting a Business

SO with the combination of a rainy week, a needy 2 year old, a hard working / late home hubby and a zero sales at the market time I have been feeling somewhat low this week. I struggle to find any time to play in my own playroom and can't get Jack to play in his no matter how hard I try!! I wrestle with guilt at wanting to do my own thing sometimes and then it is hard to justify when things start so slow. So I awoke this morning to pouring rain, but somehow the personal cloud had lifted!! You see 4.5 yrs ago my husband answered an ad in the paper that simply said "Gutter Cleaners wanted" and the phone number. Jay and I had been working a number of crappy jobs since arriving in Canada and he was then working a sales job that he couldn't abide. He said he was going to give this a go and if it was bearable then it was better than where he was. Spring forward 4.5 years and now see a man with a successful window and gutter cleaning company in the Cowichan Valley and today is the official take over of the Victoria area too!! It sounds so romantic and alluring for success doesn't it - but I can now look back and see where and how he has achieved this and how he has made opportunity where for many none would have existed. Jay never once questioned his goals - he knew what he wanted to do very early on and he would talk abt them in an almost mantra way - I guess it is what the secret is all about. He worked hard!! Day in and day out he has been up and down ladders - rain, shine more rain (this is BC) never once did I hear him moan, complain or bitch about the work he was doing - infact I always forgot the dirty type of work he did because he behaved completely professionally and usually had a positive spin on whatever job he was doing from great views, nice customers to not getting soaked through until after lunch this time. The romance of owning your own company and building it to a tangible business really is paved with determination, vision, self belief and head down nitty, gritty work. The days arean't usually full of these "aha" moments they are usually full of the same thing each and every day - but when these aha moments happen, these goal markers, it is good to put your head up for a second just to look back and go "man..look how far I've come!"....but then put your head back down, pull up your collar and get back on that ladder with the biggest smile on your face.

I guess I need to learn from my man how to make a successful business. Stop complaining, doubting and bitching...get my head down, my hands dirty and stop expecting aha moments everyday!

Little Tip for toddlers partys!!

OK - so you went all out for the first birthday and now number two has rolled around. Are you getting more sleep - sure - are you still knackered - ABSOLUTELY! SO why, why, why are you stressing abt a party for a 2 year old. Save the pennies, save the work, save the stress and tell everyone it is "Low Key" party time. Set the trend and the standard in your mothers gang and hear the sighs of relief. All we did was tell the little mans buddies to come down to the park where they had a petting zoo and playground. I brought the cake and it was a BYOTH (bring your own Tim Hortens) - yep ladies I did absolutely nothing for his party and everyone had a ball!! Were we knackered? - NO. Were we broke? - NO. Are we blacklisted from all other birthday parties? - not to my knowledge....DID we just enjoy the day? - absolutely!! So remember, in 2/3 years time there is no way your little one is going to let you get away with this lack of effort - enjoy it now while you can!

Market Days are here again!!

SO after a big break from both markets and blogging I am back! It had been 4 years since my last market at Moss St in Victoria and I am so very happy to be back there again. It really is one of the best environments - great atmosphere, great produce / products, kind vendors and wonderful customers - mix that up with some ambient music and a gorgeous day - what a recipe for a happy market day. 4 years ago I was at Moss St selling tea cosies out of pre-loved (as is the "PC" term I understand) fabric. It was such a great experience and made me decide that I did want to try to sell my products - but there is only so much scope for one item like a tea cosie!! So away I went for 4 years - thinking, thinking abt stuff - experimenting and learning to sew properly with a really kind lady who took me on to help her with her own work. 4 years later I think I am really starting to develop something that could work and that I have such fun thinking abt, making and last minute fiddling with. Sometimes we really don't know where we are going to end up and what it is that we are going to do. I never was that person who knew exactly what they wanted to do for their work - I only knew I wanted to LOVE whatever it was I did. SO I have spent 15 years doing work I haven't particularly loved - spending a lot of time brewing what I COULD do. It makes me smile when people look at handcrafted things and snort or tusk saying - "god anyone could make or do that". When I think of all the painstaking time this little stall has taken to start to bud - it really isn't the easy option that people think!! I still have no idea what will develop from this - but I do feel I am at the beginning of something finally good for me and right now I am loving the buzzing going on in my head!! SO I have come back to my little blog just to say hi - sorry I have been so absent - it has felt a little foggy in UnPc land - but I hope the clouds are now clearing in my head and in the sky!!!

Arghhh the mess is driving me crazy

Why don't they have a house and home magazine for parents of toddlers? Oh I love the way the kitchen utensils are displayed all over the floor and the newspaper carpet is fantastic!! Could we try the porridge texture on the walls do you think? The mess drives me absolutely nuts sometimes..I have to remind my hubby that it takes an awful lot of work to keep my house to this standard of disarray. How the hell do these other bloggers keep their houses so damn perfect looking - you are liars the lot of ya!! So here's a sneak peak of a real "house and home"!!

How the hell do people do it all?

Ahh the holidays

So we have had just an amazing Christmas with the boy!! He was so in the spirit of things and got very much into the present giving and receiving! At the end of the night whilst being put to bed he started to run up to the exposed chimney in his room crying "chimney, Chimney.." as is usual, but this time there was a pause, a point at the chimney and then he said "Santa came"...these kids really can blow you away sometimes can't they with their levels of understanding. We have all had varying bouts of sickness over the course of the holidays which seems to be doing its rounds in our area, but it hasn't spolit a thing as we are all enjoying cosying up to the fire and just hanging out together. I am also enjoying the hubby being around for the boy and have utilised his presence by spending a whole day in the sewing room yesterday - where I finally started and finished the little boy's curtains. I am so pleased with them as a first effort of printing and curtain sewing and the boy is rewarding me by saying "pretty" a lot and "robot"!! Well time to go, pour the wine and enjoy some Coronation St while the boys are doing bath -ahhhhh the luxury of it all.

Bandana Stockings!!

I am in the middle of finishing off Christmas Gifts, buying Christmas gifts and desperately trying to think of some Christmas Gifts (sorry hubby you are the latter!!). My sewing machine broke this evening and I am so proud of myself for managing to fix it!! I can finish off the last projects - maybe - I have in the meantime co-drunk a couple of bottles of plonk and probably shouldn't even be writing this! We have just finished watching 4 Christmases - which was so much better than I was expecting (I am always dubious of the Vince Vaugn) - hubby is now snuggled up with "The Hangover" which he has been dying to watch!!

I wanted to share with you a very cool find!! Bandanas!! There are craft stores with some very cool colours and I have just finished a christmas stocking for the little guys buddy!! It is finished with a camoflage contrast - what little man (or big man) would not want one of these! You can also see here the wide range of colours available and they are only 97c a piece - you need at least 2 pieces to make a stocking abt this size. I have plans to turn the other stash into some decorative flags - but they will have to wait until 2010.

Were those the first flakes of Winter??

Today I think I felt the first flakes of winter!! We live in BC on Vancouver Island and my understanding of winter over here was all daffodils and people playing golf! That is a winter I have yet to see - the 1st one we had here it rained non-stop from Nov through to March (my husband works outside so I got the record breaking stats daily) the 3 since have snowed. I have experienced quite the range of snow from the Northern Ontario, 8ft, nonsense snow to UK snow, where 1cm brings down whole railtrack and motorway systems. I guess if I were Goldilocks BC would be just right - enough to have fun, but not enough to send me crazy. It is also a bonus that we do not "have" to be anywhere - my husband can't work and I was either in walking distance of work or home with bambino, so we would actually just snuggle in with the fire or bundle up and enjoy the quiet outside. I like that things do slow down a little when we get the first snow fall - in Ontario it is amazingly business as usual, whereas here the roads are so much quieter and seem to be reminiscent of older times.

So today, even though I think I felt flakes, it has been a lot warmer outside. The boy and I spent a lot of the morning in the garden - me stacking wood, him unstacking the wood. I was luckily faster than him and did make some progress. I really like to do these sorts of jobs as I do spend too much time indoors and that does make me feel sluggish. When I came in today I felt far more energized than I have in a long time and look the boy has a nap - win, win.

Well I am going to go and see if I can make any more progress on the poor boys curtains that I have been promising. I leave you with a picture of warm things - these rather cute mittens are ones that I bought my wee boy last week at a really great craft fair where things were so reasonably priced (these were $3 - how could you not). I think in the New Year I will post some pictures of some of the cool things I found this year at the fairs - but I need to keep them underwraps at the mo!! Wooly is watching - smile XX

Craft Night !!

So Wooly woman and I got together yesterday to make some wreaths. We managed to do this last year (my first wreath making experience) and maybe it will be a little tradition of ours (wooly don't groan) as although we are both rather reluctant at the beginning (I don't want to make effing wreaths - I think was the quote)it does help stir the Christmas feelings along with the Baileys coffees and Amaretto shots! We originally met some 4 years ago at a very sorry local Christmas Fair where we both had stalls - she selling her wonderful handspun and hand-dyed wool, me selling my little tea cosies. It was such a painful time for us sales wise, but so worth going to have met such a great, great friend. Who knew all that time ago that we lived just over the road from eachother and would go through pregnancy, birth and the raising of our boys all at the same time! I have no idea where I would be without her dry wit, support and general willingness to let me speed dial her number far too regularly with my neurosis of the day. So here's to friends - this Christmas - let me raise my Christmas "special" coffee and toast you !! XX

What do you mean "No"......

Okay so I am having a few problems of compliance with the little man - already at one and a half years old. It is all to do with me forcing him to say he loves his mummy! Yes..i am a needy, lady and so I do expect my offspring to tell me how much he loves me daily..but he just will not comply! It all started yesterday when I casually asked him if he loved his mummy and without hesitation he shrugged his shoulders, shook his head and said .. "No". Well we laughed and asked him again ...do you love your mummy ? Again a shoulder shrug, a shake of the head and a very definite "No". So this was early days - he is parroting everything I say at the mo so I tried to trick him "Love Mummy...Love Mummy", but instead of repeating "Love Mummy" as I expected .. he said "NO' instead. Now this was starting to worry me ..."Do you love your Daddy"..reply "Love Daddy"....and do you love your Mummy?" again "No". Arghhhh!! So this morning we were talking about the word yes...."yes, you like your toast"..reply "yes" nod of head, "yes you like Dylan" (our dog)..big nod "yes"..."yes you love your mummy"...pause...."No" head slyly shakes!! Well little monkey you may not be admitting that you love your mummy, but I know you do - I don't need to hear the words. You resting your head in the crook of my neck in the dark of night with sighs of relief when something has woken you and made you cry, from your calling my name when you first wake in the morning "mummy, mummy, mummy" to last thing at night when we tell you it's bedtime. Your actions are speaking louder than any words...you can't fool me ...you sooooo love your mummy no matter how cool you try to be!

Confessions

I have eaten nearly all the chocolate candies I made at the weekend that were supposed to be Christmas Gifts for people. I feel very sick .... and very fat!!

Fr..fr...fr...freezing!!

Hey all it feels soooo very cold today!! We have the woodstove on all day and it still doesn't seem to get warm in here (usually it is tropicana heat). I guess that is the joys of having an older home with little to no insulation. Well I managed to have some time in my sewing room this morning and have finished off my Xmas gifts of the fabric buckets. The big boy looked after the little boy and they had lots of fun together - these little spurts of the big boy having time off are so lovely - I seriously think the government should look into supporting the men having time off too with the kids - this feels so normal having the two parents home. I also find myself so much more productive when I have people around the house - I think I am a personality who needs the energy of others around me - I kinda feed off it!! Anyway here are some pictures of todays production - I know I need to learn how to dress up the photos - but I can't be bothered. It is frightening though how much dirt and mess these photos have shown me (God bless the crop picture tool!!)

I just need to .....

Is it just us or does anyone else have the "I just need to" argument in their home. What happens is hubby will come home from work or have some unexpected time off - or a weekend free and I'll think - yippeeeeee - I should get a chance to finish off that sewing project, practise some printing, catch up on the housework ....but before I can sway into dream land of stuff that I might achieve I hear those fateful words.."I've just got to"! I've just got to build a fence, pop to Home Hardware, clear up the garage, wash the car, build another fence, organise the wood etc etc. It is hard to sound pissy when the poor guy isn't exactly off to the strip clubs or down the pub with his mates..everything he does we really do need..but suddenly there are all these chores he "just needs to" do and I'm again looking after monster (whom I love dearly), but also whom I do get to share an awful lot of time with already. I get slightly anxious when I hear that phrase because I then feel under this pressure to butt in with 3 things that I might need to do - I make them up on the spot ..."ummmm well errr ..I need to mop the floors, take the dog out and ummmm take back some library books"..just to feel like I have managed to corner a little time too! Anyway we had the "discussion" this evening about this issue and I think we both feel a little better - sometimes it is good to just vent when you are both feeling pressure from different sides. Hearing me whinge abt not getting enough time to start my sewing stuff actually made me get off my bum this evening and make something. I have found these rather cool looking fabric buckets - they are very easy to make and ideal Christmas gifts!

http://pippijoe.blogspot.com/2008/05/enough-of-all-containers-this-is-last.html


I'll post the pictures tomorrow of the ones I made once I have finished the second one (I know a whole set). The best thing abt being productive like this is I feel so much better abt stuff and it keeps me away from the rumballs and chocolate slabs wooly woman and I made on Sunday (I have eaten lots wooly are you being good?)!! Well time for bed now .."I just need to .......go to sleep" Ahhhhhhhhh!!

I thought I said I wasn't going to do Christmas!! Bah humbug!

My ideal Christmas would be to NOT have any presents! I think I would enjoy the build-up so much more if I didn't feel so obligated to get people gifts. Isn't it awful to feel so pressured into something like that - you start to use those fateful words like I "have to get" and "should get" none of this sounds much like the spirit of Christmas to me. I have just gone out with the little man (who I might add behaved amazingly!!) to get some dear family members some gifts and managed to spend $200 just like that! I am budgeting, budgeting all aspects of my life and then the pressure of Christmas and post deadlines loom and bang bye, bye $200!! It is not that I don't love my family - but why doesn't it feel like an act of love when you are darting around the shops slightly hysterically singing to your babe - "just one more to get"..."that's 3 down, 2 to go". That surely isn't the message of Christmas!! I used to work in a store before bambino was born and Christmas was such a scary time!! I have never seen so many harrassed, rude, desperate people in all my life...it's like an extended trip to Seaworld in the baking sun - no-one is having any fun, especially not Salty!

So what are you all doing for Christmas this year? Wooly Woman and I are embarking on the candy making production line - rumballs, white chocolate and cranberry pieces and a fudge thing. She also made some very dangerously tasty homemade Baileys - which says it lasts 2 months, but we think they were being ironic because who keeps Baileys for longer than a weekend? Only my parents me thinks who had that one bottle going for years along with the small case of babycham. As for gifts well I am going to be good and shop locally - ha except for my UK peeps who will get online from Marks and Spencers. We are going to have some friends up for Xmas dinner and I am really looking forward to catching up with my hubby who has been working just so hard recently that we just say "see you Christmas" (I hope he means this Christmas). The little boy - I really don't want to do the crazy gifts thing for him - he is so happy with any tat I lie around the house - why worry abt big gifts and stuff at this age - I'm sure the age will come for expensive stuff so I WILL NOT FEEL ANY GUILT. I WILL NOT FEEL ANY GUILT. Repeat repeat!!

Bye to all - hope you all find some Christmas cheer in this scary time - Wooly Woman when are you bringing "mummy's special coffee" over?

Random thoughts!!

So the sun has been here for 3 days now - Hooray, hooray!! It is so much easier to be happy go lucky mum when the sky is blue and the sun is out. The monster and I have been out in the garden stocking up our wood pile and cutting back the dead or out of control bushes. I am not a gardener, but might develop into one as this is one job that I can do pretty easily with the boy around - he is so happy picking up rocks, playing in the mud and throwing sticks for and at the dog that I manage to accomplish something and he doesn't get me nagging him all morning for things he shouldn't be touching, banging, climbing etc etc - a lovely break for both of us. We also managed to take the dog for a great walk and toddler ambled along very happily - you could see the cobwebs flying out of all of our brains I think. The bonus to all this great outdoors - is a nap!! The little one managed to come home and sleep for 2 hours after his lunch and Mum got to do Mum things!! We are happy and at one!

The weird thing abt those happy, perfect days is then I get that stupid voice in my head that thinks I could do this again! I know, I know!! There has been a nagging of maybe having another little monster - I can't believe I would entertain such a thought, because I certainly did not breeze through the first year of this little monkey man - but hey - we'll see I guess. One more disrupted nights sleep or another poop in the bath and I'm sure I'll come to my senses!

Well have to go - so soon I know, but this morning was a morning of bringing monster to the hairdressers with me so he is soooo not going to nap for me after that sad affair of an outing.